May makes six commitments to Northern Ireland

Traffic passing a Brexit Border poster between Newry in Northern Ireland and Dundalk in the Irish Republic. (Photo: AFP)

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has made six commitments to Northern Ireland as agreement was reached with the European Union (EU) on terms of the country leaving the bloc.

Withdrawal talks have focused on three areas: citizens' rights, how much Britain will pay for commitments made while it was a member and Northern Ireland's border with the Republic, which will be the only EU/UK mainland frontier post-Brexit.

On Friday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference that "sufficient progress has now been made on the strict terms of the divorce".

If that judgement is backed by the European Council this month, talks can start on trade and the future UK/EU relationship.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. (Photo: AFP)

"We will always uphold and support Northern Ireland's status as an integral part of the United Kingdom," May said in a statement.

"This government will continue to govern in the interests of the whole community in Northern Ireland."

Other commitments include keeping Northern Ireland as part of the UK single market when the province and the rest of Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

Further, no part of the UK will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice.

May also commited to maintaining the Good Friday Agreement between the UK and Irish governments.

Reached in 1998, the accord helped draw to a close decades of sectarian conflict, commonly known as the Troubles.

"There will be no new borders within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland," May said.

"In addition to no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, we will maintain the Common Travel Area throughout these islands."

The Common Travel Area is a special travel zone between the Republic of Ireland and the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands.

Its nationals can travel freely within the region without being subject to passport controls.

Britons voted in a referendum on June 23, 2016, to leave the EU. May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in March to set off the two-year negotiation process to complete talks about the terms of the exit.

"The deal has set out all we set out to achieve," Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told a news conference broadcast live by the BBC.

"We do not want to see a border in the Irish Sea, any more than we want to see a border between Newry and Dundalk or between Letterkenny and Derry," Varadkar wrote on Twitter.

"We want free travel and free trade to continue as it does now and has done for 20 years."

Prime Minister May's minority government is propped up by the support of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), following a general election in June.

Leader Arlene Foster said on the party's website that "substantial positive progress" had been made compared with a draft document presented on Monday.

She said the DUP was "intensely engaged" with the government until the early hours of the morning.

Foster said there was more work to be done in areas of cooperation where an "alignment of rules and standards" between both parts of Ireland was needed and how they could be implemented.

The president of Sinn Fein, an Irish political party that campaigns for a united Ireland, said yesterday it was still a live issue.

"Sinn Fein must continue to argue the case for a referendum on Irish unity as contained in the Good Friday Agreement," Gerry Adams said on Twitter.